Today, I played in a high school concert. Some alumni of the band were sitting in the audience and were brought to tears. Not because it was beautiful, but because they were sad to see how much the music program had declined since they left. FML

Not entirely true. My high school band was GREAT when I was in freshman and sophomore year. We had a lot of very talented members and went a long way. Then my junior year we lost some great players and gained some terrible ones with terrible attitudes that just wanted an "easy A", then we kept losing great and gaining horrible until the band now only has a handful of people that actually care about it or have any kind of talent.
High school bands can be fantastic, but only as fantastic as the people willing to try.
I've actually had the sorry experience of being in a deteriorating band, and it is NOT fun, especially when it was my favorite thing about high school.

I started learning flute by entering the school band, and it was pretty much the same for everyone who entered the band.

I saw my band deteriorate too when we changed director. The first director used to choose songs that where a little above our level, and we always managed to play them well (with some hard work). The new director prefered to choose songs that we could play within a few weeks... I hope it has gotten better since I left high school.

19- thats the same problem my school's music program is facing & it really sucks because the new people coming every year (I'm a junior) either don't care, or get intimidated by our music director (he's great but he always pushes people to do more which a lot of kids hate).

I really wish schools would put more into art programs because they're as important as maths, sciences & literature tbh.